Every year, drivers of passenger vehicles involuntarily impact/drive into a body of water such as a lake, river, canal, sinkhole, shore line, collapsing through thin ice, getting caught in flash flooding, etc., resulting in thousands of people worldwide and hundreds of people in North America alone, drowning in their vehicles. People drown in this way, because before they actually realize what is happening to them due to shock and/or trauma, the water level has reached the power windows making it virtually impossible for these people to open their respective vehicle doors or windows that would have provided them with a means to exit their vehicles.
When a vehicle impacts a body of water such as a lake, river, canal, sinkhole, shore line, collapsing through thin ice, getting caught in flash flooding, etc., there are three distinct phases that occur namely:    1. Floating phase: A vehicle will remain afloat only until the water reaches the bottom of the side power windows (about 30 seconds to 90 seconds depending on the weight of the vehicle) and during the floating phase, a vehicle's side windows can still be opened.    2. Sinking phase: Once the water level has reached a vehicle's side windows, the water pressure will press the window against the doorframe, making it impossible to open it. It does not matter how long this period is. Even though the vehicle is visible, it is a tomb with windows and doors that cannot be opened.    3. Submerged phase: Even though the vehicle is now completely under water, not all the air will have yet escaped. Trapped occupants would have to wait for the vehicle to fill completely with water before the pressure equalizes allowing doors to be opened. Unfortunately, trapped occupants will probably have drowned by then as evidenced by the thousands of such deaths each year.
Generally, a power window apparatus is made up of a driver seat window opening unit, a front passenger seat window opening unit, a rear right side window opening unit, a rear left side window opening unit, and in most cases, a driver master window opening unit.
In this case, the driver seat window operation unit has at least driver seat open and close switches, front passenger seat open and close switches, rear right seat open and close switches, rear left seat open and close switches, a driver seat window open/close motor, a motor driver composed of a relay for example for rotationally driving the motor so as to open or close the driver seat window according to the operation of the driver seat window open or close switch, and a controller (CPU) for controlling the entire driver seat window operation unit.
The front passenger window operation unit, the rear right seat operation unit, and the rear left seat operation unit each have at least window open and close switches, a window open/close motor, a motor driver for rotationally driving the motor so as to open or close the window according to the operation of the window open/close switch, and a controller (CPU) for controlling the entire window operation unit.
In the above-mentioned known power window apparatus, when the driver manually operates the driver seat window open or close switch located on the driver seat window operation unit, the driver seat window is opened or closed; when the driver manually operates the front passenger seat window open or close switch located on the driver seat window operation unit, the front passenger seat window is opened or closed; when the driver manually operates the rear right seat open or close switch in the driver seat window operation unit, the rear right seat window is opened or closed; when the driver manually operates the rear left seat open or close switch in the driver seat window operation unit, the rear left seat window is opened or closed and when the driver manually operates the master open or close switch in the driver seat window operation unit, all power windows (excluding sun roof windows) window are opened or closed.
When the front passenger manually operates the window open or close switch in the front passenger seat window operation unit, the front passenger seat window is opened or closed. When the rear right passenger manually operates the window open or close switch in the rear right seat window operation unit, the rear right seat window is opened or closed. When the rear left passenger manually operates the window open or close switch in the rear left seat window operation unit, the rear left seat window is opened or closed.
However, if a vehicle equipped with such a power window apparatus has been submerged in water for some reason and the water infiltrates the inside of the vehicle passenger compartment area, the water also infiltrates the door pockets, affecting the driver seat window operation unit, the front passenger seat window operation unit, and rear right and left seat window operation units. In these window operation units, the water infiltrates the window open and close switches more often than other components of the window operation units, because the manual operation section of these switches is exposed outside. If the water gets inside the window open switch or the window close switch, getting eventually between the switch contacts, the water provides a low resistor between the contacts, thereby preventing the normal open/close state of the contacts.
If, in such a state, the driver or a passenger operates the window open switch in the corresponding window operation unit, the window may not be opened, making it difficult for the driver and passenger(s) (if applicable) to exit the vehicle.